East Leeds won the toss and elected to bat. At 0-1 this looked like a dodgy decision but 24 from Jacob Naylor saw East Leeds to 45-2. A partnership of 129 between Brad Cunningham and Tom Chapman drove East Leeds towards a very good total, with Brad in particular playing some very pleasing strokes. When Brad was out for 85 it was Tom who took over the scoring mantle, before he too was dismissed for 85. Some late hitting saw East Leeds post a very good total of 245-6.

That total would prove to be not enough, and the less said about the effort in the field the better. Heckmondwike knocked off the score with a remarkable 10 overs left with only Tom, Jacob and a first First Team wicket for Abid Tarvas all East Leeds had to show for it. A disappointing loss.

The toss would be a deciding factor in a game against top of the league. Unfortunately East Leeds lost it and were sent into bat on a green seamer. The game didn’t start well with Brad Cunningham out first ball of the game, which was followed by a ball which bounced sharply to break and fracture Jimmy Watlings thumb. Conditions were very difficult to bat in with the ball doing all sorts, but Jimmy (12), Jacob Naylor (16), Saqab Mohammad (12) and Chris Cannings (17) all battled through to double figures. Tom Chapman (56) and Adam Farnell (29) batted well as conditions eased and saw East Leeds into a good position, before a flutter of wickets saw the East Leeds innings finish quicker than hoped, despite 19 not out from Allan Olbison. East Leeds needed to hope the new ball did as much as it did during their innings.Unfortunately, despite some good bowling from Al, the breakthrough didn’t come and the Jer Lane batsman Younis showed why he’s the leading run scorer in the league. Jer Lane made their total easily with more than 10 overs to spare, despite two wickets from Tom.

East Leeds batted first and got off to an absolute flyer. Jacob Naylor (17) and Zahid Tarvas putting on 38 for the first wicket in quick time. Jimmy Watling and Zahid put on a further 26 in equally quick time, before Jimmy was bowled. Zahid was next out for a thrilling 52 off just 51 balls – which one of the Sandal team said was ‘the worst 50 he’d ever seen’ – despite potentially being one of the best the East Leeds team had seen. There were big expectations from that fella when he came out to bat…There were contributions throughout from Tom Chapman (21) and Jamie Blackbrow (17), but it was 29 from Allan Olbison and 35 not out from Ben Wilkinson that saw East Leeds up to 206 all out.

Things got a little fiery in the field with the Sandal opener taking upwards of five minutes to leave the field while calling both Al and Captain Tom cheats after snicking behind for a duck. Further early wickets from the red hot Al (3-25) and Willy Storey (1-24) left Sandal 41-4, and unfortunately for them the ‘master batsman’ was already back in the hutch for a tremendously well-made 7. Tom Chapman and Jimmy Watling (15 overs 0-35) kept the runs tight, but Sandal were still edging towards their target. The game flared up again when Ben Wilkinson bowled a full toss which was chipped to cover with the score on 106-6. The umpires gave the decision out and again the batsman refused to leave the field, saying the ball was over waist high and should have been called a no ball. The Sandal team were in uproar, despite the decision being the correct one as the batsman was stood well out of his ground. Another partnership developed which brought Sandal within touching distance of victory. Enter Zahid Tarvas, who took two key wickets to keep the game in the balance. A brilliant run out with great work by Chris Cannings then made East Leeds favourites, before the returning Tom Chapman took the final wicket to ensure a great win for East Leeds!

Azaad (148 all out) v XI (96 all out) 28 July Azaad win by 52 runs

Azaad won the toss and batted first. Fantastic opening spells from Allan Olbison and Willy Storey meant that Azzad were just 12-0 off the first 10 overs! Al finally took a well deserved first wicket with the score on 42, which was followed by another on 59. Willy took a well deserved wicket of his own with the score on 60. Both openers bowled their full allocation of 15 overs, Al taking 2-36 and Willy 1-49. Banaras Hussain bowled well before being rushed to A&E after splitting the webbing in his hand fielding a ball off his own bowling, but it was Jimmy Watling who again stole the show, taking 4-26 off just 8.4 overs. Ben Wilkinson was his usual destructive self, taking 2-11.

The East Leeds chase started well, despite some good bowling from Azaad. Jimmy and Jacob Naylor both got starts, but the dismissal of Jacob sparked a collapse with East Leeds losing 3 wickets for just 2 runs falling from 41-1 to 43-4. Tom Chapman (28) and Darrell Jones rebuilt the innings, until Tom gave his wicket away, to spark another collapse of 4 wickets for just 8 runs. Darrell and Willy (11* - his highest score for East Leeds) showed some resistance and kept Azaad out there before Darrell was the last man to go for 12, leaving East Leeds 52 runs short.

XI (195-7) v Adwalton (164 all out) 21 July East Leeds win by 31 runs

East Leeds lost the toss and ended up batting first on a pitch which offered seam upfront and spin once it had dried out. Two early wickets left East Leeds 18-2, before Tom Chapman and Jimmy Watling (20) put on 49 for the third wicket. Another partnership followed between Tom and Chris Cannings (19) in tough batting conditions against a top side. When Tom was out for 52, the score was 123-5, which thanks to a fantastic 51 not out from just 55 balls from Saqab Muhammad was swelled to a good total of 195-7.

Allan Olbison and Will Storey (1-28) opened the bowling and bowled tightly, despite a decent opening stand. When Al (3-50) took the first wicket, a cluster fell, taking Adwalton from 36-0 to 54-4. Jimmy Watling then span his usual web taking 5-31 off 14 overs to spin us to victory with Ben Wilkinson taking the last wicket. A hard fought, well earned victory against the team which at the time was top of the league.

Rodley won the toss and elected to bat. East Leeds started in the field with 9 men, which allowed Rodley to get off to an absolute flyer. It wasn’t until Jimmy Watling and Banaras Hussain were introduced that the score began to slow. Jimmy bowled his 15 overs taking 2 for 38 and Baz bowled 11 overs 3 for 38. Tom Chapman (2-69) and Ben Wilkinson (3-34) finished the innings off, but 250 would be a tough chase.

Lots of starts throughout the East Leeds innings with Brad Cunningham, Jimmy, Tom, Saqab Muhammad and Dan Lawrence all making double figures, but only Jacob Naylor and Allan Olbison got into the 20s before getting out. East Leeds fell well short, bowled out for 140.

East Leeds won the toss and elected to bat against the leagues basement side. The top order all got starts, before getting out (Jacob Naylor was unlucky to be run out by a direct hit for 21) and it was a rear-guard action by the middle and lower order which rescued the innings. Dan Thewlis (28), Jehan Rana (22) and Allan Olbison (20) all got the total to a respectable score, before Banaras Hussain (41*) and Ben Wilkinson (40*) shared an unbroken partnership of 80 to see East Leeds upto a more than decent total of 234-7.

Windhill’s chase never really got going (you’d think they had a football match to get to or something) and they quickly slipped to 18-4 thanks to 3 wickets for Al (3-30) and 1 for Tom Chapman (1-20). Sam Thewlis took his first XI wickets in his 2-43, Jimmy Watling took 1-34 and Ben Wilkinson finished the innings off with 3 wickets for just six runs. Another great win for six wins in a row!

Crossbank won the toss and elected to bat. Despite an early wicket from Tom Chapman, Crossbank got off to a flying start and were 79-1 after 17. Jimmy Watling and Banaras Hussain bowled brilliantly to turn the tide on what seemed to be a fast scoring batting wicket and reduced Crossbank to 169 all out. Jimmy bowling tremendously taking 5-29 off his 15 overs and Baz taking 3-47 from his 10 overs.

Despite looking like a 300+ wicket during the first innings the pitch closer resembled a day 5 in Mumbai pitch for the second innings. East Leeds slipped to 34-3 before a partnership of 88 between Jimmy and Tom got us to within touching distance of victory. A mini collapse including the wickets of both Tom and Jim put Crossbank on top, but some fantastic batting at the death from Allan Olbison (12*) and Baz (19* off eight balls) saw us over the line. Jimmy finished with 50, Tom 47. A great win!